Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Stock Position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its position in shares of Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 6,400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $2,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in Exelixis by 6.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,462,072 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,891,000 after purchasing an additional 140,568 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 124.0% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,790,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,473,000 after buying an additional 991,494 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Exelixis by 6.1% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,702,590 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,182,000 after purchasing an additional 98,000 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Exelixis by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,562,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,884,000 after purchasing an additional 704,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in Exelixis by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,168,391 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $30,320,000 after buying an additional 77,599 shares in the last quarter. 85.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Exelixis in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Exelixis in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Exelixis from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Exelixis has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.24.

Insider Activity at Exelixis

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,823,783.53. The trade was a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total value of $425,884.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,060,561.28. This represents a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Exelixis Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXEL opened at $37.13 on Tuesday. Exelixis, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.14 and a 1 year high of $37.59. The company has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.39.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc, an oncology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers in the United States. The company offers CABOMETYX tablets for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy; and COMETRIQ capsules for the treatment of progressive and metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.